The Effect of Heat Treatment on the Thermal Expansion Behavior of Electroformed Nano-crystalline Fe-42 wt%Ni Alloy

Fe-Ni has been of great interest because it is known as one of low thermal expansion alloys as various application areas. This alloy was fabricated by electroforming process, and effect of heat treatment on thermal expansion and hardness was investigated. Nano-crystalline structure of 13.3 - 63.5 nm in size was observed in the as-deposited alloy. To investigate the effect of heat treatment on grain growth and mechanical/thermal properties, we conducted hardness and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). From this, we confirmed these properties were varied by heat treatment. In this nano-crystalline alloy, we could observe abnormal behavior in thermal expansion between 350 - 400oC. Additionally, an abrupt change in hardness has also been observed. However, once the grains grow up to micro-sized the mechanical and thermal properties mentioned above were stabilized similar to those of bulk alloys due to heat treatment. KCI Citation Count: 0